MidAmerica Airport Courting Another Prospect
BELLEVILLE, IL (February 27, 2000) -- The latest effort to bring airline service to idle MidAmerica Airport involves convincing the charter company Funjet Vacations to provide flights to Las Vegas.
St. Clair County officials and others have been working to lure passenger and cargo carriers to the $320 million airport that was built with tax dollars. Despite a lack of success, airport leaders said the effort is there, but they want long-term success and are not going to jump at just anything.
"If we are empty in a year, I'm not going to be surprised," St. Clair County Board Chairman John Baricevic said. "If somebody comes in 30 days. I'm not going to be surprised, either."
In recent months, those efforts have included:
** Dave Ballone, the proprietor of Ambassador Travel in Belleville, trying to set up a deal with Funjet, a charter packager out of Milwaukee.
MidAmerica Director Floyd "Rick" Hargrove has agreed to promote the flights, but only after Ballone secures a deal with Funjet.
The problem: Ballone hasn't found the money to guarantee the sale of the seats on Funjet flights from MidAmerica. "If I can get the money together to pay the deposit on the airplane, we can do it," Ballone said.
Ballone praised the encouragement he has received so far from Hargrove and county officials. "MidAmerica has been fantastic to deal with," he said. "They've been outstanding to deal with."
Ballone, however, acknowledged receiving a letter recently from Hargrove informing him "that they couldn't arrange a meeting yet" about the proposed Funjet charters.
** A visit six months ago by Hargrove to American Trans Air in Indianapolis - North America's largest air charter outfit. Hargrove and airline Vice President Stan Hoola talked for several hours. But so far, no deal, Hoola said.
Hoola declined to discuss the nature of Hargrove's pitch. "It was a private presentation between us and them," he said. But Hoola said he thinks MidAmerica is not suited for the Lockheed L-1011's and other mammoth passenger craft Trans Air routinely flies halfway around the globe loaded with 300 or more passengers.
MidAmerica is best suited for smaller planes such as the DC-9, which carries about 100 passengers, he said. "We don't have that kind of airplane," Hoola said.
However, MidAmerica's 10,000-foot runway and the runway at Scott Air Force Base, which recently was extended from 7,000 to 8,000 feet, are capable of handling all sizes of aircraft, aviation experts have said.
** A meeting between officials of reborn Ozark Air Lines and county officials to discuss Ozark using MidAmerica as a stopover on its flights from Columbia, Mo., to Chicago.
Wes Stricker, the majority owner of Ozark, said he remains hopeful a deal with MidAmerica Airport still can be struck, despite what appeared to Ozark officials as a lack of aggressive negotiating on the part of St. Clair County officials.
The Belleville News-Democrat reported last Sunday that Ozark and county officials met Nov. 18, but the county said it would not offer incentives, such as reduced landing fees, to the Columbia, Mo.-based carrier offering flights to Chicago.
In a recent interview, Baricevic said he and other county leaders are doing all they can to market the airport properly, and that they are following the advice of the consultants they've hired. Baricevic said he is confident the airport will eventually start paying for itself.
Stricker said he is impressed with MidAmerica, especially the 53,000-square-foot, $8.7 million passenger terminal. "The facility is nice," he said. "Somebody did a great job with that."
Information provided by the Belleville News-Democrat
Mike Fitzgerald Article
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